By Kate Powell
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced the three finalists for the EBRD Literature Prize 2024. In alphabetical order by author they are:
- The End by Attila Bartis, translated from the Hungarian by Judith Sollosy and published by Archipelago Books
- The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales by Ferit Edgü, translated from the Turkish by Aron Aji and published by the New York Review of Books
- Barcode by Krisztina Tóth, translated from the Hungarian by Peter Sherwood and published by Jantar Publishing.
The finalists were chosen by this year’s independent panel of judges: award-winning writer and critic, Maya Jaggi (chair); novelist and translator, Maureen Freely; and author and professor of international law, Philippe Sands.
Dr Jaggi said: “From a formidable shortlist of books – all 10 of which we commend highly to readers – three finalists emerged as our unanimous frontrunners for this year’s prize. Attila Bartis’s The End, translated by Judith Sollosy, is a devastatingly frank portrait of an artist under pressure in post-communist Hungary and the ravages of a soul in a police state. The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales, Ferit Edgü’s novella and short stories translated by Aron Aji, bear witness with poetry and horror to a nightmarish history of state violence in eastern Türkiye and an often forgotten people. Barcode’s ingeniously structured tales by Krisztina Tóth, translated by Peter Sherwood, explore myriad forms of boundary crossing – between childhood and maturity, ‘goulash communism’ and capitalism, life and death.
My fellow judges and I admired the power and originality of all three authors in pushing fictional form – whether Bartis’s novel-in-snapshots, Edgü’s prose-poems, or Tóth’s interlinked short stories – along with the engaging truth of their narratives, and the suppleness and consistency of the translations. While the fiction of Bartis and Edgü throws up comparisons with photography – an art form both writers practise – Edgü and Tóth marry poetry with prose. All astonish and will be startling discoveries for many readers around the world.”
The €20,000(US$21,460) prize is awarded for the best work of literary fiction originally written in a language of one of the countries where the Bank invests, translated into English and published by a European or North American publisher in the previous year. Prize money is divided equally between author and translator. The authors and translators of the two runner-up books also receive €2,000 each.
The winners and runners-up will be announced on 13 June at an awards ceremony and reception at the EBRD’s headquarters in London. To register to attend, please click here.
The EBRD Literature Prize is part of the Bank’s Community Initiative, which engages the institution and its staff in philanthropic, social and cultural activities in areas where the Bank operates. More information can be found here: EBRD Literature Prize overview.
